The present invention relates to a steamer pot assembly for cooking food through use of steam.
The popularity of cooking foods by steaming them has risen markedly in the past few years. A widely used cooking utensil is the steamer insert, which is usually supplied as a separate article, and which has a bottom with a number of overlapping leaves which are pivoted to the bottom, and which may be moved from a collapsed position in which they overlie the bottom, to an extended position, in which they extend outwardly from the bottom; both the leaves and the bottom are perforated to permit the passage of steam therethrough, and this steamer insert is provided with legs so as to support the bottom of it above the bottom of the cooking pot into which it is placed. These steamer inserts found their widest application in the cooking of vegetables, and were of relatively small capacity, the bottom typically having a diameter of just under six inches, with a wall height of approximately two and one-half inches, when the leaves forming the wall were placed substantially perpendicular to the bottom. Thus, these steamer baskets of the interleaved configuration had an inherent limitation on the capacity thereof since the folded position limited the height of the leaves forming the walls to slightly less than the radius of the bottom.
There are known, in the prior art, various constructions of steamer pot assemblies. Welty U.S. Pat. No. 639,474 discloses an apparatus for steaming food, including a pot having a thickened lip, a lid having an out-turned lip for resting on the lip of the pot, and a steamer basket having a lower portion of wire netting and an upper section of sheet steel, with feet on the bottom to support the bottom of the basket above the bottom of the pot. The steamer basket has a bail having ends extending through apertures in the sheet metal rim, the bail having an arcuate intermediate portion, the uppermost portion of the bail apparently resting against the inner wall of the upper section. Such construction, while capable of being made in a relatively large size and therefore having a sufficient volume for holding food, has a lack of stability due to the fact that only a single bail was used. In addition, the steamer basket required feet to support the bottom of it above the bottom of the pot, leading to greater difficulty in cleaning. In this construction, also, there was no cooperation between the lid and the steamer basket, or the bail forming a part of it.
Hunter U.S. Pat. No. 2,112,990 provides a steamer basket having a lower section of wire mesh, and an upper metal section, to which a pair of bails are attached, the ends of the bails being comparatively close together, and the bails, in the collapsed condition, extending over the bottom of the steamer basket, which rests on the bottom of the pot for boiling of the food carried in the steamer basket. For steaming, the bails are used to support the basket, by being placed on the rim of the pot, there being no disclosure of a lid.
Neuens U.S. Pat. No. 1,241,002 provides a device useful in canning, including a perforated tray for holding jars to be immersed in a boiler, the tray being provided with a pair of handles pivoted to it, the handles being configured so as to hook over the edge of the boiler pot.
The prior art failed to provide a steamer pot assembly of a construction so as to enable it to be of relatively large volume, wherein a bail arrangement was provided giving stability for lifting the steamer basket, which provided for holding the bails in position where they were both out of the food in the steamer basket, readily accessible and enabled the lid to rest on a flange of the steamer basket, outwardly of and guided by the bails.